Non-Witnessed Evidentiality in Tuparí and its Connection to Resultative Constructions in the Perfect Aspect

Abstract

Tupían languages typically mark evidentiality through freestanding particles located in a predicate- or clause-peripheral position. In Tuparí, however, non-witnessed evidentiality is realized by a bound verbal suffix (-pnẽ/psira). This article draws upon original fieldwork to offer a detailed description and analysis of -pnẽ/psira. I argue that using -pnẽ/psira presupposes commitment to the proposition p on the part of the speaker. This analysis explains the incompatibility between -pnẽ/psira and those clause-typing particles that signal doubt or uncertainty, and it accounts for the projection of the witnessed/nonwitnessed contrast out of embedded clauses. This article also puts forth an explanation for the historical origin of -pnẽ/psira. A separate suffix, resultative -psẽ/pnẽ/psira, is partially homophonous with the evidential but differs from it on several diagnostics. I propose that resultative constructions in the perfect aspect (‘the snake is in the state of having died’) were reinterpreted as non-firsthand statements in the past tense (‘the snake died [non-witnessed]’).